Pogonaru said that this tax is welcome, considering the imbalance between entries and exits of companies on and off the market, as it is very easy to establish an enterprise but very difficult to exit the market.
The official added that one should not head a company if one cannot afford to pay the minimum €500 lump-sum tax, and it would be easier to switch to the status of Authorized Individual.
“There are few small and medium-sized enterprises in the business environment which are based on a truly entrepreneurial spirit. The problem with the lump-sum tax is that it is imposed on the honest part of the economy in a moment when the workforce is taxed excessively,” Pogonaru said.
“The only conclusion I can draw is that somebody wants to destroy SMEs and the Romanian business environment. We do not know what the government negotiated with the IMF [International Monetary Fund], but the IMF probably wants us to stop doing business, so that Romania will stop production and become an import market only,” said the Vice President of the National Council for Private Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Romania (CNIPMMR), Florea Parvu.
